


Borderline

by evergreenstringbean



Series: Roundabout [2]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Teachers, Demus? wtf is it make up your minds, Established logicality, Eventual Dukeceit - Freeform, Except Remus, Gen, Light Angst, M/M, Mentions of Past Addictions, Random and chaotic intrusive thoughts sprinkled about, Recreational Drug Use, TW includes, cursing, established prinxiety, he's a taxidermist, minor character death (only referenced), that's about it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:08:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25694041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evergreenstringbean/pseuds/evergreenstringbean
Summary: Following the unexpected death of their mother, Roman and Remus are tasked with cleaning out their parents' attic. Old photos bring up old memories, old trinkets bring up old feelings, but a stack of letters may begin to distort the thoughts of their childhood, or bring their thoughts of it to new light.This is a world continuation of Roundabout, if you haven't read it yet you should probably do that first for context.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders/Deceit | Janus Sanders, Dr. Emile Picani/Sleep | Remy Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders
Series: Roundabout [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1863274
Comments: 37
Kudos: 108





	1. Nobody Tells You

**Author's Note:**

> HA- you thought I was done with this? Pfft, no. No way. Buckle up, kiddos.
> 
> This is loosely based on the musical A Little More Alive. I'll be using parts of the main plot and a few lyrics, but most parts will original to the best of my ability.
> 
> Trigger Warning! This fic does contain recreational drug use! Remus smokes weed! This is a major plot point! It is a character point! Do not read if you're uncomfortable with it!

Curveballs in life were no surprise to Roman. 

He was used to the way things would twist and turn into a convoluted mess that often made him question his decisions in either positive or (mostly) negative ways. He was no stranger to the sinking feeling that followed each revelation, how the rest of the world seemed to be drowned out by that one thing he wouldn’t stop thinking about. 

It had happened with Virgil after the two had broken up and he had left. Roman functioned on autopilot, not leaving his apartment and only getting out of bed when necessary. He had never experienced something so dark before, and often felt foolish for being so lost in his own mind after something as common as a breakup. But he never thought too much on that part. He honestly never thought too much about anything, content in letting his mind go blank and fuzzy with numbed silence.

But in the year since Virgil had returned and the two had begun living together, Roman had almost forgotten that sinking feeling. They had fallen into a rhythm, helped even more by the school year giving them both time to themselves and lunch breaks to spend together. Some days, Virgil hung out with Remy and Emile on weekends, while Roman lounged around Logan and Patton’s house or spent time with his brother in an attempt to keep the frail patchwork of their relationship together. After all, Remus had been there at Roman’s lowest moment, and while they had glossed over most of their conflicts in life, getting through the one that had stopped them from talking had been important, and had helped Roman to start picking himself up and eventually buy his house. So yes, Roman had almost forgotten how it felt when a curveball zoomed past him.

Until his father called him at 4am one Tuesday morning, telling him that his mother had suffered a heart attack in the middle of the night. 

“Ro? Is everything alright?” Virgil asked, voice quiet and hoarse from sleep as he sat up in bed to see Roman hunched over the side of it.

Roman slowly hung up the phone and stared at it in his lap, taking a few seconds before replying just as quietly:

“My mom’s dead.”

_**~ + ~** _

Remus had discovered a long time ago that his favorite way to cope was to get stoned and play guitar. 

He had taken lessons as a kid, hated it right off the bat, then began to enjoy it when he got cool calluses on his hands that made them feel all bumpy and made climbing trees way easier. He eventually stopped lessons, but still played every now and then out of either boredom or…well, when he was high. He’s started limiting how much and how often he smoked when Janus had talked some sense in him, something about how he couldn’t really afford to lose anymore brain cells. 

But now he felt like he had a valid reason. He could easily explain away the red eyes with the hard truth. That the funeral that had taken place a couple hours prior was harder on him than he’d care to admit. Crying wasn’t his thing; he left that to his overemotional twin, who cried enough for the both of them during the entirety of it and was now upstairs shaking hands with distant relatives and family friends like he hadn’t had a strained relationship with them for years. And then there was Remus, plucking mindlessly at the strings as the smoke coming from the glass pipe on the coffee table dissipated into the room.

“…Seriously? In Mom and Dad’s basement?”

Roman still sounded like he’d been bawling, something that made Remus grimace as he sat up and set the guitar aside. “Just like the good ol’ days,” he answered with a sigh, lifting the pipe as an offer to Roman who looked at him like had two heads.

“I’m a teacher.”

“Teachers get high too, Romeo.”

“Irresponsible teachers. And teachers who do it where it’s legal.”

Remus rolled his eyes. “It’s a special occasion. Shouldn’t count.”

Roman opened his mouth to argue, but thought about the current events and decided to let it go. He didn’t want to get into an argument with his brother at their mom’s funeral. Their dad was already going through enough. With a loud exhale, he moved over to the chair next to the couch and plopped down. “Everyone’s leaving. They wanted to say goodbye before we’re thrown into two weeks of family lockdown.”

“It was your idea, dipshit. You’re the one who took two weeks off work and told me ‘It would be better for Dad if we helped him go through Mom’s stuff and the shit in the attic, blah blah blah’.” Remus shot back, doing a dumbed down impression of Roman as he stood from the couch and climbed the stairs to the rest of the house.

It baffled Roman how the two of them could go from playful back and forth in one conversation to heated tiptoeing around a fight in another. But with the situation at hand, he didn’t think too much on it. It was a hard time for all of them, and focusing on Remus’ coping strategies was not something he wanted to do.

The sound of the door opening after a few minutes of silence had him bracing for either Remus’ annoying voice or a random family member who was about find Roman sitting in a smoky room, which was definitely not a conversation he wanted to have. 

“Guess you got tired of all the fake smiles and sympathy?” David Prince looked visibly exhausted in his suit, tie already loosened the second he walked in and a hand shaking his gelled salt-and-pepper hair out of its place. He stopped for a second to examine the room before shaking his head, leaning against the wall as he spoke to his son. “Looks like when your brother was in college in here.”

Roman chose to ignore the way that had been phrased, knowing full well that the second he’d gone off to dorm life that communication with his family had been scarce. “Everyone leaving?”

His father nodded and crossed his arms while he spoke, clearly uncomfortable in the attire and ready to just relax in his own home. “Virgil wanted me to tell you that Vanessa canceled her trip until you’re back home.”

“What? No, she didn’t have to do that.”

“He said that she wanted to spend time with everyone. That includes you.”

Roman just nodded, letting himself stare out into the blank space of the basement. “Well, thanks for telling me.”

David hummed in acknowledgment and turned for the stairs again, pausing to add, “It’s good to have you back home, Romeo.”

Roman groaned, putting his head in his hands. “I played Romeo one time, and it was over a decade ago. Can’t we let it go?”

“Hmm…nope. Sorry, good sir.” He smiled and cleared his throat, looking up to the door before returning sight to Roman. “I’m surprised you came at all, really.”

“…What? Why?”

David allowed himself a deep breath before answering. “You’ve got a new home, new family and all that. You’re off doing your own thing and never made an effort to see us.”

Roman pushed himself up from the chair, joining his father at the base of the steps. “Of course I came. It’s not a question of if I care or not. She’s my mother and I’m clearly sad she’s gone. I guess it’s just weird to see how we just have to move on.”

“I don’t think I get it. How you could just leave all of us without so much as a phone call every now and then.”

“Can we- not do this right now?” Roman pleaded, already feeling near tears once again.

David relaxed a bit and took a step up. “Sure thing. I’m ordering pizza for dinner. Do you want anything specific?”

“No. Anything’s fine.”

“Alright. I’ll come get you when it’s here.”

With that, Roman returned to the silence of the basement and the comfort of the chair he had been sitting in. He didn’t understand how his dad could be like that. He had made a good career, had a loving relationship and a family who he loved to bits. How could his father brush it off as though he’d abandoned everyone? Looking around the walls of the basement, they wood panel was covered all over with childhood photos of vacations, front yards in summer, and every dumb pose his mom could come up with. It was weird to see those pictures, two identical boys with matching grins that were faked beyond belief. Every picture was a lie. Every single one had fifteen minutes of fussing and bickering and fighting until the four of them stood still for half a second to frame the illusion of a happy memory.

And now here he would be staying for the next 336 hours. Covering the bad feelings with a thin sheet of fake happiness yet again.

He just hoped as he climbed the stairs to get away from the smoke that this time wouldn’t lead to disaster.


	2. Every Single Memory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman and Remus clean out the attic, and run into something that shifts their entire world.

The first evening in the Prince household was tense.

Pizza had been eaten in the living room with rarely a word out of the three men, flipping through sports and the news with none of them able to be happy with anything that was on. They had all gone to bed not long after, with David off to his bedroom while Roman and Remus returned to their childhood rooms that their parents had turned into guest rooms after the former had left for college and after the latter had dropped out and moved out. 

Nothing felt the same to Roman. Everything looked so different, the walls repainted to shades unlike the red he had preferred as a child and all of his things he’d left behind packed into the attic, away from sight. How the hell was he supposed to get through the next two weeks if every day would be like this one?

As it turned out, quite easily, since the following morning everyone was significantly less tense and the three of them ate breakfast with jokes and gentle bickering between the twins. Roman had forgotten the times like this, when the family was able to get along without the tension and dancing around the bumps in their relationships. When they were able to laugh together. He could almost see his mom shaking her head through her laughter at one of Remus’ crude jokes.

“Remind me again why we have to go through this shit?”

Roman rolled his eyes and flicked on the light, boxes and garbage bags of random stuff filling the space in front of them. “Because I told Dad we would help him clean stuff out of the attic. He doesn’t need to be climbing up here with his bad back. He’s already got one hospital bill to pay…” He mumbled that last part, but Remus still caught it and turned away to begin digging through a box.

The younger twin pulled out a pair of quads, followed by another. “Hey look, our old skates! Huh, mine’s missing a wheel.”

“Remember that time we were pushing each other down that giant hill on the street? You had to turn to miss a car and hit the curb. Mom made us stop skating then.”

Remus laughed and nodded at the memory, tossing the skate back into the box. “So donate? Or are we gonna go try to recreate that awesome day with skates half our size?”

“Donate,” Roman agreed as he pulled out a pen and marked the box before putting it into a corner. “Alright, time to do that a million more times.”

“We’re gonna die up here.”

Roman chose to ignore his brother as he directed himself to the next box.

**_~ + ~_ **

Looking back on old things was weird when you didn’t remember them.

For three hours, Roman and Remus combed through box after box, finding old photos, toys their parents hadn’t given away, old clothes to be donated, and even a few boxes just containing old receipts their mom had kept for some reason or another.

“I think Mom was a hoarder,” Roman said, digging through the receipts. “All of these are from the nineties. No wait, here’s some from the late eighties…” He pulled another handful of receipts back, something different at the bottom of the box catching his eye. “Hang on, there’s something else in here.”

“It’s your adoption papers,” Remus joked, moving away from the box of toy cars he had been playing with. 

Roman rolled his eyes and grabbed the stack of papers, pulling them out of the box of receipts to examine closer. “We’re twins, idiot.” He unfolded one of the papers in the stack, noticing the format and clearing his throat to read it carefully:

  
_July 23, 1992_

_To Sherri, Forever,_

_Thank you for curing me of the boredom to an otherwise mundane staff meeting. Principal Jefferson tends to ramble, thank you for distracting me by sharing Roman’s affinity to stuffed bears over bunnies. I’m glad you chose Bridgeview. Welcome to the family._

_Mr. Wallace_

  
The twins stared at each other in confusion, before Roman returned his gaze to the letter. “Mr. Wallace, why does that name sound familiar?”

Remus snapped his fingers and crossed the room to dig something from a box, returning with a photo. “Second grade teacher. He and Mom taught at the elementary school until we moved here before third grade.” The picture was of the twins, their parents, and a man only somewhat recognizable to Roman standing next to their mother. 

He shrugged and flipped to the next letter.

  
_January 2, 1998_

_To Sherri, Forever,_

_Happy New Year! I couldn’t really say it around everyone, but you looked unbelievable-_

  
Roman felt his stomach drop when he finally understood, flipping to the next one. 

  
_March 15, 2003_

  
And the next.

  
_August 6, 1990_

  
“Shit,” Remus sighed out, grabbing a letter from the stack to skim through. “Mom had a lover?”

“Keep quiet, Dad might hear you,” Roman whispered quickly. “This guy was there under our noses for our entire childhood. What if that’s it?”

“What are you talking about?”

Roman sighed in annoyance, flicking his eyes between the paper and his brother’s face. “What if that explains all the stuff that happened growing up? Like…remember our seventh birthday? Mom said she missed her flight, but she was gone for the entire next week?”

“Dude, how do you remember that?” Remus asked, handing the paper back and sitting on a flattened stack of empty boxes.

“I don’t know,” he shrugged and started going through the whole stack. “There’s no reason to bring this up. It’s only gonna make Dad more upset.”

Remus pulled the stack away from his brother, letting himself look through it. “No way! If this is the way to figure out all the weird shit that happened, then we oughta- wait a second…oh _fuck_ ,” Remus whispered, his eyes widening as he scanned the letter in his hands.

“What?” Roman asked, turning away to start stuffing the receipts into a garbage bag as Remus read it out loud.

  
_April 10, 1990_

_To Sherri, Forever_

_I can understand the reason to keep this quiet, but that doesn’t mean I can understand why you don’t want to change things. The test was clear, and you know as well as I do that I would make a great father for the boys. But I will respect your decision nevertheless. I just wish, in another world, you and I would be together to raise our children like the happy family I imagine to have._

_Sam_

  
Roman didn’t say anything. He couldn’t. The sinking feeling had shifted to something stronger, like he’d been pulled further out to sea by a current and thrown to a drop off without a life jacket in sight. After recalling how to moved, he dropped the garbage bag and turned around.

“… _Fuck_ ,” He copied his brother, the two staring at each other with identical looks of shock.

There was no way they could ignore these letters now. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a slow start, but it'll pick up soon I promise
> 
> Yell at me on Tumblr/Instagram (@evergreenstringbean) or Twitter (@everstringbean)


	3. I Wanna Know

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman and Remus have differing opinions on how to move forward. Janus takes the lead. David thinks about his family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy hell I am so sorry this took so long! I got writer's block like crazy and I am so sorry! Uploads will be more consistent I promise!

“Okay…so, Mom had a lover who just so happens to be our biological father…and our second grade teacher…and for some reason, her and Dad moved us to another city before third grade started. And she never told us or Dad anything about us not being his kids.”

Roman nodded along to the recap from Remus as he hung off the edge of the bed, his head pounding from the blood rushing to it. The sudden intake of information still had him reeling and he had thought laying upside down would help him process it all faster or drown it out with the pressure. It didn’t look like Remus’ room anymore, just like Roman’s room didn’t resemble his own, but he noticed his brother had pulled down some of his old posters to slap onto the walls. Maybe he needed something familiar in order to fall asleep. Roman didn’t blame him.

“Yep. So what now?” Neither of them had a single thought as to where to go from there. Do they just forget about everything they knew? Do they tell their Dad? 

Suddenly, Remus hopped off the bed and snatched the letters from the nightstand. “Now we find the guy.”

“What?!” Roman followed his brother off the bed. “Are you nuts? We’re not turning our two weeks here into an international manhunt!”

“Why not? Sounds like a better time than watching Dad sadly watch home movies.”

While he could agree with his brother on that front, Roman shook his head. “We both promised we’d be here for him, and that’s what I’m gonna do.” There was a beat of silence between them before the younger twin shrugged his shoulders and pulled a joint from his nightstand. 

“Suit yourself, Romeo.”

Roman rolled his eyes, stepping out of the room and trailing down the hall to his own. The flurry of life-altering events was dizzying and he just wanted a day to gather his thoughts and balance out the emotions in his head. He was sure, however that, he’d only have a few hours at most before Remus would beg him to reconsider, so he plopped onto his bed and did the only thing he could think of given the situation.

“Hey, Ro. Everything okay?”

Virgil’s voice was music to Roman’s ears. It may have only been a few days, but he missed him and having someone else to talk about something else other than the secrets uncovered was a relief. “Hello, my love. Everything’s…fine,” he hesitated, debating on sharing everything but firmly deciding to both not worry Virgil and not risk his father overhearing his phone call. “We’re helping Dad close all of Mom’s accounts and get all of her affairs in order.” The awful side of Roman’s mind laughed at his word choice, while the rational side cringed. “The attic was full of so much of our stuff that I’d totally forgotten about.”

“Trip through memory lane, huh?” Virgil hummed, a distant loud ringing in the background as Roman lifted his wrist to check the time.

“Shit, I’m sorry. Two days here and I already forgot about school days. It’s a curse. I can call back later.”

“No no, it’s fine. Lunch time. Patton and Logan will want to talk to you anyway. Hang on a sec.” Roman listened to the sound of a door opening and a mumbled conversation until the call got louder. “You’re on speaker, say hi.”

“Hey guys!” Roman called out, the clattering of the phone loud and making his ear ring so much that he had to pull it away for a second. Then his brain caught up to speed and- “Wait, where’s Janus?”

The delay of the phone gave a chorus of greetings before an answer to his question. “He called out today. Told Patton he had some stuff to take care of and would be taking some vacation time. He told us not to worry, but it’s sort of hard not to with all the stuff going on.”

Roman nodded along to Virgil even though he couldn’t be seen, absent-minded thoughts dwelling on the reasoning for Janus’ absence. Maybe it was just personal stuff, but curiosity always did get the best of the drama teacher, and anything to take his mind off of current events was a blessing. “Alright, well, I’ll let the three of you enjoy your lunch. Can you check in on my sub every now and then to see if she’s alright?”

“Of course, Roman. Please tell Remus we said hello.”

“Is that Uncle Roman?!”

Nathan’s excited voice flipped Roman’s mood in a matter of seconds. “Is that my favorite nephew?!” There was more clattering over the other end of the line before Nate’s voice became clearer.

“Hi! Are you and Uncle Remus okay?”

Roman smiled at how caring his nephew was, the love his friends were sending him and his brother really warming his heart. “Yeah, we’re alright. Though you know he’s definitely driving me nuts.”

“Kiddo, you should really be eating lunch with your friends.”

“Funny, Dad,” Nate joked to Patton, sighing into the phone. “Did you hear that, Uncle Roman? Dad thinks I have friends.”

Roman chuckled. “Hey, Nessa’s your friend!”

Nathan groaned. “She’s hundred of miles away!”

The soft knocking on his door interrupted the first undramatic conversation he’d had in days and Roman sighed, turning over on his bed to glance in the direction of the sound. “Hey, I’ve gotta go. I think your uncle is done being annoying.”

“Bye!” Nathan exclaimed, the shuffling of the phone indicating a new possessor of the phone. 

“I’ll call you tonight,” Virgil said quietly, using the voice he always did when he showed his feelings.

“Looking forward to it, my dear,” Roman replied with a smile. “I love you.”

“Love you too, Ro.”

The click of the line ended his smile as he reluctantly stood from the bed and opened the door, coming face-to-face with Janus.

“What are you-”

“Remus told me what’s going on so I came by. He started going all Private Eye on me over the phone on my way here.”

Roman rolled his eyes at his brother’s antics and returned to the security of his bed. “So you came by to comfort him? Why are you at my door then?”

“I came here for both of you,” Janus corrected, leaning his cane against one wall as he stepped through the door so he could lean against the other with his arms crossed. “He told me you don’t want to look into this. I really think you should.”

“Why? So we can get a better glimpse into the fact that our mom lied to us and altered our entire memory our whole lives? What the hell will that achieve?” He sighed and put his head in his hands. “Besides, I don’t want Dad to know about this. It’s just too much at once and he doesn’t deserve it.”

Janus sat on the end of Roman’s bed and watched him, providing an ear for him until he’d finished talking and resting a hand on his shoulder. “I think it’ll be good for the both of you to look back. If you don’t you’re just going to speculate on what was real and what wasn’t and Remus is going to drive himself mad trying to piece things together. You both need the closure or you’ll both crack. And maybe eventually you’ll get to a point where you can both talk to your dad.”

Roman considered Janus’ points, and cursed just how easily he’d persuaded his opinion to change to be level with Remus’. “…Alright. But we’ve got to go somewhere else to look into it. We can tell Dad we’re going to get Mom’s bank information closed. He’s bad with that kind of stuff so we needed to do that this week anyway. Two birds, one stone and all that jazz.”

Janus nodded and Roman stood, helping the other up and tossing him his cane as they traveled down the hall to his twin’s room.

“Hey! Get up, Waluigi. We’re going out.”

**_~ + ~_ **

“You’re going out?” David looked up from the video of the boys’ fourth birthday to see their grown, present day counterparts putting on their shoes.

The oldest of the two nodded, zipping up his jacket. “Yeah, Janus is gonna drive us over to the bank to close Mom’s accounts and get all her information for you.”

“Oh, well thank you Jan. Saves an old man from all the confusing bank stuff.”

Janus smiled and pulled his keys from his pocket, glancing between the moving screen and the boys’ father. “It’s no problem at all, Mr. Prince.”

“When will the day arrive when you begin to call me by my first name?”

“That would be the day that the southern politeness drilled into my head as a child magically disappears.”

David laughed and stopped the VCR, the blue screen luminating the dim room. “Hey, how about we do a movie night this weekend? Home vids, some booze, ice cream- oh! You could invite the other boys. Oh wait- Patton can’t have alcohol, right?”

“Actually, Pat’s gotten to a point where he’s comfortable to be around others who are drinking. AA has done well for him.” Roman sounded extremely proud with his statement, the happiness for his friend radiating through. “I’ll call them after school ends and ask, but I’m sure it won’t be a problem.”

“Perfect,” David said with a grin, relaxing further into his recliner. “Well, I’ll be here when you get back.”

“If you start to keel over and die, call us,” Remus said, all four of them cringing as soon as it was out of his mouth and in the air. It was a normal kind of thing for him to say, but even he knew when something was just a bit too soon.

“Sure thing,” was all he managed to respond with as the three of them left, leaving him alone in a big, quiet house for the first time in…way too long. For decades, he’d always had Sherri there reading quietly or knitting something while they watched the news when he really just wanted to watch football.

Part of him was happy to finally have his freedom back. He could do whatever the hell he wanted now, having been returned to his bachelor lifestyle he’d almost forgotten. He no longer had to worry about the stress and struggle of maintaining a family. He didn’t have to fret over how one wrong move, one wrong word, could topple the whole image and ruin the faux-perfection he and Sherri had carefully crafted.

He could relax.

But could he? His wife was gone. He couldn’t get the rushed images of that night out of his mind, or the sinking feeling he’d gotten when the doctors had given him the awful news. He had to essentially tear down the aspects of her life, cancel her magazine subscriptions and memberships to the gym, close her accounts, deal with copious amounts of government bullshit that had him tearing his hair out.

And all the while, he was still handling the heavy weight of grief, and seeing Sherri in his sons’ faces. Each smile, each quick-witted comeback, each sarcastic remark reminded him of his wife. So while he had the opportunity to relax in his new bachelor life, he didn’t want to. He wanted the three separate answers to his questions he used to always get. He wanted dismayed complaints whenever he flipped to ESPN. He wanted bickering over who’s turn it was for dishes.

He wanted his damn family, his _entire_ family, back.

The sound of Janus’ car pulling out of the driveway reminded David of just how alone he’d be now. In two weeks he’d be truly, utterly alone, with only the comfort of memories and old videos to get him through the days.

As he pressed play on the VCR and listened to the tape whir, two small boys and a smiling mother on the screen had the man in tears for the hundredth time that day. David Prince was bitterly alone, and he was sure that two weeks from then would be even more painful than now, when his children left yet again and he had the house to himself for good.

He just wished with every power that they both left on good terms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mayhaps follow me on Twitter? @everstringbean
> 
> Consider following me on Tumblr or Instagram? @evergreenstringbean


	4. Remember

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman, Remus, and Janus search for Sam. Roman thinks too much for a change.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So clearly, this fic will be shorter than the last one. Since most of the characters were establish in the last one, I don't feel the need to harbor more backstory so I can get right into everything. Though I'm playing around with the idea of giving the Roberts-Hastings fam more time because I just really love Nathan okay.

Even though he’d been there hundreds of times before, Roman still had a hard time navigating the tidbits of Janus’ apartment.

It wasn’t even a large space, just a standard two bedroom that he’d gotten so Remus wouldn’t have to sleep on the couch during times when he was too high to take himself to his own place or it was just late and he didn’t want to drive. Still, Roman didn’t quite understand where he kept most of his things. His utensils were stored in the cabinet marked for cups, plates in the spice cabinet, and a secret spot behind the butter in his fridge that had extra cans of soda so Remus wouldn’t chug them all in a matter of hours. It threw him off every time he walked in, and no matter how many times he stopped by, he could never remember where anything was.

However, he didn’t really have to, because Remus knew the ins and outs of Janus’ place like the back of his hand.

“What are you looking for, Romeo?” Remus pushed past his brother and crawled onto the kitchen counter, reaching up to grab a random bag of chips from behind a shelf. “I’m sure whatever it is I can find. Jan thinks he keeps his stuff in secret places, but I can get to it all no problem.”

“That’s because you’re nosy as hell and love to snoop until you find everything you want,” Janus huffed as he entered the kitchen with his laptop, taking a seat at his small table and gesturing for Roman to take the seat next to him.

“And that’s why it wasn’t hard to find your drawer of toy-”

“The stupid’s falling out of your face again,” the debate teacher bit back at the younger twin, clearly trying to hide his embarrassment as he logged into his laptop and opened up his browser. “Okay. Let’s start with Google. Now, what’s the guy’s name again?”

Roman watched Remus hop off the counter with the chips in hand and step right behind Janus to look over his shoulder. “Sam Wallace,” he answered, voice muffled by the food in his mouth. Annoyed by his brother’s gross habits, Roman kept his eyes glued to the screen as Janus typed the name into the search bar along with their old elementary school. In an instant, there was a plethora of results with the name in question, some entirely unrelated but most focused on various schools with a matching name and faculty members with somewhat similar names, until- “Right there! That’s the right school.”

Janus clicked the link, watching as the site loading to annoying school colors and a bulletin board of announcements for upcoming closings and spirit week. He scrolled down a bit before a picture caught his eye, the description proving his thought. “That him?”

He looked much older than he did in their old picture from the attic, but it was most definitely him. "Yeah, that’s him.”

“So what now?” Remus asked through another crunch of chips, making Janus cringe and jerk his shoulder back to smack the man behind him in the stomach. 

“Now you shut the fuck up while I find his faculty email and look for his Facebook page.”

“Why are you doing that?” Roman was confused. They’d found him, why did they need to get his email and social media?

Remus actually swallowed his food before talking this time, much to Janus’ satisfaction. “So we know where he lives and can go find the guy, Romeo.”

Roman groaned. “Again, we are not going out to find him. Isn’t it just enough to get to the bottom of Mom’s affair and put it to rest?”

Clearly, Remus was confused by this, stepping out from behind Janus’ chair to take a seat in the empty one across from his friend and brother. “No! If we find him, we can ask him why he ultimately ruined our childhood. Don’t you want that?”

“He didn’t ruin our childhoods.”

“Oh really? It’s because of him that Mom and Dad fought all the time. It’s why Mom was gone so much and missed the good times. Do you remember in first grade when Mom would “forget” to pick us up so Mr. Wallace would drive us home?”

It took a few seconds, but Roman vaguely recalled a spacious backseat with his brother and a somewhat faceless man in the front, asking them about their day while his younger twin babble about learning times tables with marshmallows or the two of them drawing with chalk during recess. He remembered stopping in their driveway and saying hello to their mom as they walked through the front door before being told to go play upstairs. He felt like there was something else to it, but didn’t worry too much about remembering. “…Okay. We look into this. But we’ve gotta hold the stakeouts in another state for _after_ we leave Dad’s house.”

“You’re no fun.” And Remus left it at that, letting Janus work his searching skills in relative silence for the rest of the afternoon. The irritating tension between the twins was sickeningly familiar, but hadn’t shown up quite like that since high school. Since reconciling a few years back, the two had been nearly back to the tight-knit bond they’d had as kids, save for a few sibling spats. But this was more emotional and it made Roman uncomfortable to think that maybe they hadn’t gotten all of their issues out of the way after all. 

At some point they moved to the living room since sitting at the kitchen table was making Janus’ hip ache, and the twins sat on either side of him on the couch as he flipped through every social media he could find. After a while of that, they tried to look through their mother’s email, but couldn’t seem to get her password, so they decided to table that for another day. 

All the while, Roman tried to ignore the subtle glances between his brother and his friend that made this stomach turn. He knew Janus still obviously had feelings for his brother, a fact that was evident by how much he put up with on a daily basis. And he knew that Remus clearly felt the same way, though was wasn’t sure if he just hadn’t thought it the right time to confess or was just to damn stupid to even know himself. Either way, watching their wordless looks and the way his brother would “casually” scoot closer to the debate teacher as they all stared at the laptop made him more and more uncomfortable with each passing second. However, he just chalked it up to watching his friend and brother subtly flirting being gross to witness and left it at that. He didn’t need anymore boxes to unpack anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hhhhh yeah short but I'm fighting my writer's block and trying to stick to a consistent update schedule.
> 
> Anyway, follow me on Instagram/Tumblr (@evergreenstringbean) or Twitter (@everstringbean)


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